Tuesday, September 30
Gerard, Esther’s dad, drove us with the bulk of our luggage, the hour long drive, to Wageningen where we met with Hanny and Roy, our host, and so we could drop off our luggage. It was a good meeting and Hanny and Roy showed us all of the ins and outs of their house. Gerard hit it off with Roy, like he does with most people, and they talked the whole time. After a couple of hours at the house and before heading home, Aalsmeer, we drove the short distance to Bennekom for lunch. Walking back to the car after lunch we stopped at a bike store, Hartman, it was the same store I stopped in back in May. I looked at and rode several bikes before settling on the Gazelle Chamonix C8 L57 Metallic. They call the color orange but I say it’s burnt red and I like the color and it should be ready for pickup on Friday.

We drove back to Aalsmeer and had some leftovers at Gerard’s place. I wasn’t feeling great with maybe the beginnings of a sore throat so we went to bed early – I didn’t sleep well that night – just couldn’t quit thinking about things.

Wednesday, October 1

Gerard drove Esther and I to the Schiphol airport so we could catch a train to Wageningen – we just had our small carry-on bags. Esther spent some time showing me all about the trains, buses and how to read the schedules. Esther has gotten me a Flex ticket which means I can travel free by public transportation during non peak times (9AM to 4PM then after 6:30PM) .

I feel a cold coming on so I took a packet of vitamin C (1,000mg) and slept pretty good in our new bed. The house is very dark at night making going to the bathroom in the middle of the night a little scary especially with the stairs right by the bathroom door.
Dinner: Pan seared salmon, mashed potatoes, calliflower, salad.

Thursday, October 2
Woke up, dressed and went downstairs around 6:30 – got up twice to use the bathroom. Made some coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, did a load of laundry and rested most of the morning. I was felling better than last night but wanted to catch up on some rest.
Went out on a bike ride and to check out a new grocery store(Lidl) – it was nice and bought a few grocery items.
Came home for lunch – made a ham and cheese sandwich with lots of lettuce. Esther got home around 2PM and did her zoom meetings with students from here. I rode my bike to Bennekom to see about my new bike and when tomorrow it might be ready.

Dinner: Chicken breasts, rice, zucchini, salad, onion, and garlic

Friday, October 3
Got up at 7 this morning, dressed and went on a maybe 2-1/2 mile walk, Esther did some running back and forth and got in about 3-1/2 miles. It’s day 3 and I feel we are starting to settle in and getting a routine going. So far the weather has been perfect but I think its about ready to change.
Esther left for the lab around 9:30 – just in time for coffee – which we laugh at. The lab has a coffee time at 10AM where everyone gets together, has coffee and shares information – Esther seems to always get to the lab in time for coffee – maybe next week we will be settled enough for her to get in a little earlier.
I left for Bennekom to pick up my new bike around 10:20 and I was proud because I navigated the public transit system all by myself.
Dinner: Chicken vegetable soup with cauliflower on the side because we had a big head of it. The soup had onions, garlic, celery, carrots, potatoes, puree tomatoes and a chicken breast. I made the stock with water and chicken bouillon and was very happy with the results.

Saturday, October 4
Slept in till 7:30 this morning – I still have the remints of a cold and it’s 55 degrees, windy and rainy outside – welcome to the Netherlands in the winter.
I found some very tasty treats at the grocery store.

After the rain stopped Saturday morning we rode our bikes to this small local market and got some root veggies, apples and some locally made mead. We then rode our bikes into town to a meat market and to a bakery for some fresh bread – the rain has stopped, it’s about 55 degrees and very windy outside.

After getting the beer I went for a beautiful bike ride out in the country. There was some wind and heavy gusts at times and the skies were a threatening but it was quiet and peaceful with miles to ride on roads like this. a little cool it was very quiet. On my way home a heavy storm blew through with heavy winds, rain and hail – it only lasted 10 minutes or so but I had to take refuge behind a road side building.

Dinner: roasted cauliflower with garlic, turmeric and other spices, leftover rice dish, small pork fillet and a salad.Tea after dinner and some Youtube comedians before heading to bed,

Sunday, October 5
Esther woke up coughing and sneezing this morning – I think she got my cold. We had an egg frittata this morning with all of our leftovers, rice, pork, cauliflower – I figured out how to use the broiler and used it this morning. Gerard and Menno are driving out to see us and we made a very yummy soup for them with carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, celery, bean sprouts, chicken stock and tomato puree.

Gerben and Menno drove down for a visit and had a late lunch(3PM) with us – we made a chicken, tomato soup – our first guests to host. Esther’s still not feeling great. I rode to the grocery store to get some oranges and a few other things we needed and a pizza we could have as a snack later. After our pizza and salad we were having some tea when the door bell rang – I was startled. Who would be ringing our doorbell at 8PM on a Sunday night? It was Annemieke, Esther’s friend and college roomate, she lives close by and rode her bike down to say hello and welcome us. Her mother-in-law had passed away on Friday and she and William, her husband, were busy attending to her. She had some tea and cookies with us – it was a short visit. This concludes week one.

Day 1 – Sunday, September 7, 2025
Family arrives around 5:30 – simple meal of Lentil soup, salad and of course bread and cheese. It was a long travel day for everyone so not many photos

Day 2 – Monday, September 8, 2025
Cookout at Esther’s House – Grilled chicken, potato fries, veggies and a salad. The weather was almost perfect for the whole week – cool in the mornings and evenings and upper 70’s in the afternoons.

Day 3 – Tuesday, September 9, 2025 (her actual birthday)
Dinner at Expat

We were seated upstairs, by ourselves, at the Expat which was good because Dutch people have a tendency to talk a bit loud. On our way in we say some friends and colleagues of Esther’s who were having a meeting in one of the downstairs rooms. A few minutes later the waiter came upstairs with 4 bottles of prosecco complements of the group downstairs – the family was blown away by generosity. After the Expat we went back to Esther’s for some birthday carrot cake – it was good. Menno loved it and had a piece everyday till it was gone.

Day 4 – Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Kayaking, Creature Comforts and food truck

Day 5 – Thursday, September 11, 2025
Bike, swim and barbeque at Bruce’s house – because the weather was a little chilly and my heart decided to go into A fib on Wednesday, we did not swim or bike. Attendees: Gerard, Menno, Maurice, Emiel. Sonja, Jan, Mariella, Toni, Celia, Austin, Shawn, Rhoda, Mark, Qian and Denise. After all of the lab members and out-of-towners left and it started getting darker I started the fire pit on the screened porch and the Toni, Celia and the family sat around the fire and talked – it was a lot of fun. The family left around 9ish – Toni, Celia and Esther spent the night.

Day 6 – Friday, September 12, 2025
Pizza party for family and out-of-town guests at Esther’s house. Esther and Toni drove into work together and had to be there for a 9AM lab meeting. I was about to cancel pizza night because of the Afib – I just didn’t have much energy. Celia stepped in and together we pulled it off. We first made a list of the ingredients we needed and went shopping at both Publix and Trader Joes for everything. After shopping we met the family and the Cedar Shoals building so they could see the train set. After the trains Celia and I went back to my house where she made us lunch and while I was resting afterwards she chopped up all of the veggies for the pizzas.

There were a lot of folks who had just gotten into town who came to this event. We did the best we could to get enough seating and made 14 very yummy pizzas that had all kinds of different toppings one which was tuna fish, Toni’s favorite. Some people came in late because of transportation issues. Attendees: Toni, Celia, Gerard, Menno, Maurice, Sonja, Emiel, Marielle, Jan, Me, Esther, Denise Tieman, Austin, Qian, Lei, Nedda, Menoj, Namrata, Maohar(Texas), Yanbing (with husband, father and 2 kids), QI Mu (with husband and child). Sofia Visa and Mircea – total 26 plus 3 children.

We’ve had two parties for the people how work in Esther’s lab. The first, was in May, just a few days after we got back from the Netherlands. This party was to both congratulate the graduates and to say goodbye Yanbing Wang. Yanbing was leaving the lab to go work for Hudson-Alpha in Huntsville, Alabama – a job that Esther helped her get through her connections with the company.

The first party was held at Esther’s house and catered by Mama Ning’s out of Watkinsville

Lab members: Yanbing, Lei, Qian, Lucas(intern from France), Tosin, Katherine, Nada, Lindsey, Manoj, Austin and some family members

Lake and pizza party – we had all of the lab people attend plus Toni, Celia, Aida, Paola and Raul. Everyone had a great time swimming, canoeing and building there own pizzas.

Our final leg of this Italian trip was to the city of Padua just a very short, 30 minute, train trip from Venice. I could start seeing the transformation in Esther as we were making our way to the train station in Venice – from the tourist to the professional. Esther was starting to get ready for the conference and her talk.

As we made our way to get Esther’s conference badges and the opening remarks; I asked her if she knew anyone here and she replied no. She said, this was probably the only conference where she didn’t know anyone. We were both surprised as we were walking way and a voice, from behind, called out Dr. van der Knaap?, Dr. van der Knaap? Turned out to be a recent PhD graduate from Padua who had been following Esther’s work and was very happy to meet her in person – so cool and I was glad to have been there.
While Esther attended the conference I visited the Medical Museum, Botanical Gardens, The Basilica De Sant Antonio and several churches – so many beautiful images.

Padua is a city in Veneto, northern Italy and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, 25 miles west of Venice and 18 miles southeast of Vicenza. With a population of 207,694 and of 2025. Padua is home to one of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Padua, founded in 1222 and where figures such as Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus taught or studied.

The University of Padua is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest university in Italy, as well as the world’s fifth-oldest surviving university.

The University of Padua was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe, known particularly for the rigor of its Aristotelian logic and science. Together with the University of Bologna, Padua had a central role in the Italian Renaissance, housing and educating a number of Italian Renaissance mathematicians, amongst them Nicolaus Copernicus.

As of 2021, it is made up of 32 departments and eight schools. Padua is part a network of historical research universities known as the Coimbra Group. In 2021, the university had approximately 72,000 students including undergraduates, postgraduates, and doctoral students.

Cappella del Tesoro o delle Reliquie 

The Chapel of Relics is a place of great historical and religious importance, located within the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua. The chapel, built towards the end of the 17th century, was designed by the architect and sculptor Filippo Parodi and features a vast collection of reliquaries, chalices, votives offerings, autographs of saints and other precious objects. Among the most significant relics are the incorrupt tongue of Saint Anthony, the chin of the Saint, the crystal cross, and the vocal apparatus of the saint. The chapel is a work of art that reflects the rich artistic and religious tradition of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua.

The Orto Botanico di Padova is a botanical garden in Padua, in the northeastern part of Italy. Founded in June 1545 by the Venetian Republic, it is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location.  It was devoted to the growth of medicinal plants, the so-called “simple plants”  simples were herbs that were used as they are rather than in admixtures) which produced natural remedies, and also to help students distinguish genuine medicinal plants from false ones.  The garden – operated by the University of Padua and owned by the Italian government – encompasses roughly 22,000 square meters (240,000 sq ft), and is known for its special collections and historical design.

Perhaps my favorite thing in Padua was visiting the Giotto fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua Italy. The Scrovegni Chapel Italian Cappella degli Scrovegni is a small church, in Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. The chapel and monastery are now part of the complex of the Museo Civico of Padua. The chapel contains a fresco cycle by Giotto, completed about 1305 and considered to be an important masterpiece of Western art.

I was glad to have been able to visit the Museum of the History of Medicine in Padua occupies a section of what was the Hospital of San Francesco Grande , the first and most important hospital in Padua for four centuries, founded in 1414 and in use until 1798. The structure was part of the fifteenth-century complex of San Francesco Grande, separated from the convent of the Friars Minor by the church of San Francesco Grande .

It was incredible to see how doctors, scholars, and researchers learned about the anatomy of the human body in the 13th century and also how quickly medicine evolved.

We ended our stay in Padua with a fabulous 4 course dinner provide by the host of the conference.